Leadership Foundational Quality # 2; Hon-able.

So what is Hon-able and why is it important as a foundational quality of a Leader?

From  Launching a Leadership Revolution by Orrin Woodward & Chris Brady the founders of LIFE Leadership Factory.  

      The definition of hone is "to sharpen or smooth with a whetstone or to make more acute, intense, or effective."  To have an attitude that allows intensifying and sharpening.
      As the saying goes, " You don't know what you don't know." Additionally, what we do know we gradually forget, So if we don't know what we don't know and we're forgetting what we do know, it would probably be a good idea to continue learning.
    The great Socrates stated that if he was the wisest man in Athens it could only be because he alone assumed he didn't have all the answers.

• For a Leader there is no completion to education. 
• We need to live like we will die tomorrow and learn like we will live forever. 
• When a leader remains teachable, his or her potential is limitless. 

There are several roadblocks to learning that a leader must constantly avoid.

1. Arrogance.

    Being teachable is as much an attitude as anything else. The "know-it-all " attitude is the  death warrant of achievement. In the words of F.A. Hayek, " Nothing is more securely lodged than the ignorance of the experts."

     The opposite of arrogance is humility. To whom is a  leader to be humble?  The answer: Anyone who has something to teach.  It means being humble towards mentors, peers, and subordinates. 

2. Disinterest:  

     A leader must be sincerely interested in learning more on a regular basis. Disinterest or apathy will lead to outdated knowledge and poor decision making. Neither  of these can exist for long without fatal results in the life of a leaders endeavors. 

3. Entrenched Habits.

      We are all a product of our habits. So many habits are useful. However, what every leader must take care to avoid is leading by habit, never learning anything new, and just doing what he has always done in the manner he has always done it. Such a leader is no longer  a leader, but a manager. Entrenched habits that prohibit the process of learning are poison. "That's just the way we've always done it," should never be said by any leader at any time, at any place. 

4.  Not-Invented-Here-Syndrome. NIH

     NIH syndrome could actually be considered a form of arrogance.  When a leader resists learning something new because it wasn't her idea, that leader's educational process is sacrificed on the altar of her pride. Good ideas can and usually do come from everywhere. Great leaders accept and embrace that fact and strive to learn all they can no matter whose idea began the process. 

5. Wrong priorities.

    Sometimes a leader may have  a healthy attitude about learning but misses the mark by misunderstanding  priorities. Leaders must live in the realm of the important, not in the realm of the urgent.   Busy-ness due to wrong priorities is a very common roadblock to the teachability of a leader. 

   

 Many times is see people suffering in families, homes, churches and business because of some leader some where not being Hon-able. I hope this helps. If you are a Hon-able Leader looking to grown you may find more help Here.